News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Researchers from the University of Houston have devised a new machine learning algorithm that is efficient enough to run on a personal computer and predict the properties of more than 100,000 compounds in search of those most likely to be efficient phosphors for LED lighting.

Scientists studying a valuable, but vulnerable, species of poplar have identified the genetic mechanism responsible for the species' inability to resist a pervasive and deadly disease. Their finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to more successful hybrid poplar varieties for increased biofuels and forestry production and protect native trees against infection.

A Purdue University-led team developed a new material and manufacturing process that would make one way to use solar power -- as heat energy -- more efficient in generating electricity.

A study led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has shown that carbon fibers can work as battery electrodes, storing energy directly. This opens up new opportunities for structural batteries, where the carbon fiber becomes part of the energy system. The use of this type of multifunctional material can contribute to a significant weight-reduction in the aircraft and vehicles of the future -- a key challenge for electrification.

Scientists at UC Santa Cruz and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have reported unprecedented performance results for a supercapacitor electrode. The researchers fabricated electrodes using a printable graphene aerogel to build a porous three-dimensional scaffold loaded with pseudocapacitive material. In laboratory tests, the novel electrodes achieved the highest areal capacitance (electric charge stored per unit of electrode surface area) ever reported for a supercapacitor.

A study of dandelion seeds in motion has revealed a form of flight not seen before, and explains why the plant is among nature's best fliers.

Unicellular diatoms are able to adapt their behavior to different external stimuli based on an evaluation of their own needs. This was discovered by scientists of the Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, together with partners from Belgium. In experiments, Seminavis robusta diatoms directed their orientation either towards nutrient sources or mating partners, depending on the degree of starvation and the need to mate.

A chemist from RUDN was the first to use catalysts with ruthenium nanoparticles to obtain hydrogen under the influence of visible light and UV radiation. In the future, such catalysts may be used for large-scale production of hydrogen fuel under the influence of sunlight. The results of the study were published in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

Osaka researchers synthesized a fluorinated electron-acceptor for use in organic semiconductors. The high electronegativity of the fluorine substituents enhanced the electron-accepting properties of the widely used electron-acceptor. The power conversion efficiency of a thin film solar cell based on the fluorinated product was shown to be significantly higher than that of a cell containing an unmodified analogue. The synthesized material could be applied in thin film organic solar cell devices.